Chapter 94

Jeric was returned, and the Crescent Moon was summoned.

This operation requires the Crescent Moon.

I will have Helix check the surroundings.

We can't afford to inconvenience other players.

I think this operation can only be used when there are few players around.

The risk is also high.

Let's start with a small-scale test.

What we're doing is a train.

If we guide them to collide with other players, it's quite vicious, but there are few players in this map.

Still, I'm having Helix check just in case.

I've become quite accustomed to casting spells while riding.

But I have no experience with accumulating spells while riding without immediately casting them.

I wonder if it will work.

That's the key to the success of this operation.

Well, even if it fails, we can just run to the Earth Spirit Shrine.

The first group of Snow Apes I encountered consisted of six.

First, I'll run and gauge the speed at which the Snow Apes approach.

If I run at full speed, the distance will quickly become too great, and they'll switch from active to passive mode.

They'll stop and won't chase me anymore.

Hmm.

Running might be a valid option.

I approached the group again and provoked the monsters.

Well, it was just Volk barking.

All the monkeys turned around and glared at me.

Scary.

It's better that there's no axe-wielding one.

Another chase began.

Soon, the group was joined by four more Snow Apes.

The red markers are glowing eerily.

They're scary.

There's one axe-wielding one, too.

Well, let's start with this for the initial test.

I selected and cast a spell.

First, I'll confirm the effect of a simple area-of-effect attack spell.

Well, how will it go?

"Storm Wave!"

"Wha?"

"Ugh!"

I tried the area-of-effect wind spell first.

The wind swirls around the monkeys, dealing damage one after another.

Except for one, their HP bars seem to have decreased by about 20%.

There's quite a difference between individuals.

The axe-wielding one's HP only decreased by about 10%.

It's good that it was enhanced by the silver necklace.

The axe-wielding one is strong, after all.

"Aqua Slash!"

Next is the area-of-effect water spell.

Oh.

It seems to deal slightly more damage than the Storm Wave.

Unfortunately, the monkey at the back doesn't seem to have taken much damage.

Is the effective range a bit narrow?

Casting while moving might also have a negative impact.

What's the situation?

The HP bars of the eight monkeys are about half.

One monkey's HP bar is down by about 20%.

The axe-wielding one's HP bar is down by 30%.

And they're still chasing us.

This is the main event.

I'll use two spells.

First, I'll cast the support spell Steam Mist of the scorching magic.

Next, I'll cast Water Shield.

To cast them in succession, I'll accumulate the Steam Mist spell and then immediately select and cast the next one.

I haven't really felt the effect of "Fast Casting" until now, but it's very helpful right now.

When the second spell casting is complete, I'll cast the first spell.

"Steam Mist!"

I cast the second one without delay.

"Water Shield!"

What will the monsters do, now that their vision is blocked?

I was hoping they would charge in without thinking.

If they're the kind of monsters that attack without thinking, it should go as planned.

The first three monkeys that broke through the water wall immediately fell to their knees and collapsed.

Their HP bars were gone, and the red markers disappeared.

Next, four more appeared.

One of their HP bars was almost gone.

It was trying to get up from the ground, but Helix attacked from above.

One hit with its beak, and it was finished.

One is the axe-wielding one, but its HP bar is only about 30% left.

It's still on the ground.

Volk and Obsidian attacked.

The other two are already dead.

The last three appeared.

Two were already dead.

The remaining one barely had any HP left.

I easily finished it off with a stab from the rod while riding the Crescent Moon.

The axe-wielding one that was left was also defeated relatively easily.

Well, it's hard to counterattack when you're being ganged up on.

In the end, I wiped out the group of monsters while riding.

《Your summoned monster "Obsidian" has leveled up!》

《Please add one point to any of the status values.》

Oh.

Obsidian leveled up.

Lucky.

Obsidian's mental strength has already increased.

I assigned the remaining point to agility.

Summoned Monster Obsidian Owl Lv5 → Lv6 (↑1)

Dexterity: 12

Agility: 20 (↑1)

Intelligence: 20

Strength: 12

Vitality: 12

Mental Strength: 17 (↑1)

Skills:

Beak Attack, Silent Flight, Far Sight, Night Vision, Ambush, Danger Sense, Heavenly Ear

I closed Obsidian's status screen.

I reflected on the battle.

As expected, it went as planned.

No, there's still room for improvement.

Most of the monsters that came out of the wall were already dead.

Was it overkill?

Even if I pre-damage them, can I reduce the two area-of-effect spells to one?

What if I double the wall that deals major damage?

What if I change the wall from Water Shield to Wind Shield?

What about Stone Wall?

No.

I need the monsters to pass through, so I can't use that.

But it might be worth checking.

I want to try various things.

My MP bar still has about 40% left.

The area-of-effect spells seem to consume a lot of MP, but the wall spells don't seem to be that much.

I have some leeway, so I'll try it one more time.

While skinning and removing bones from the Snow Apes, I formulated the next plan.

It's getting interesting.

Next, I'll deliberately encounter another group of Snow Apes.

Helix's presence is significant.

It's reliably capturing the group of monsters.

The third group of Snow Apes joined, and the number of monsters chasing us exceeded ten.

No.

Something is different.

Looking closely, there's a Snow Leopard mixed in.

It's leading the group of Snow Apes.

In the forest labyrinth, the gatekeeper Plant Golem had mushrooms as followers.

But this is the first time I've encountered a mixed group of monsters in the field.

Such things can happen.

This is a problem.

I'm running at the speed of the Snow Apes.

If I keep this up, they'll catch up.

I immediately selected and cast the first spell.

When the spell casting was complete, I cast the second one.

I also prepared the third one by opening the spell list.

"Steam Mist!"

I immediately cast the second one.

"Wind Shield!"

Then I selected and cast the next spell.

What will happen?

Volk attacked the Snow Leopard that broke through the wind wall first.

The Snow Leopard's movements are slow.

Volk bit its throat.

It lifted it up and then slammed it to the ground.

A suplex.

If it were a human, it would be a decisive move.

The monkeys that appeared one after another still had some HP left.

But their HP bars were all reduced by about half.

They seem to be unable to move immediately after coming out of the wind wall.

"Aqua Slash!"

I cast the area-of-effect water spell on the group of monkeys.

At the same time, I charged in on the Crescent Moon.

Helix and Obsidian followed.

I stabbed with Kay's rod from the saddle.

I didn't have time to confirm the effect of the area-of-effect spell.

But since I'm easily finishing them off one after another, I'll take it as a good sign.

The monkeys were wiped out in no time.

It was really anticlimactic.

What about Volk?

I dismounted the Crescent Moon and walked among the dead monkeys.

Volk approached me, dragging the dead Snow Leopard.

Volk's HP bar is slightly reduced, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.

It's a good result.

《Your "Staff" skill has leveled up!》

《Your "Riding" skill has leveled up!》

Several skills have also leveled up as expected.

It should be a significant boost to my combat power.

But since they improve gradually, I don't really feel the difference.

In this battle, the benefit of "Fast Casting" was clearly felt.

There were some close calls where the spells barely made it in time.

It's scary to think what would have happened if they hadn't.

I obtained two skins and two claws from the Snow Leopard.

I also skinned and removed bones from the Snow Apes, getting eight skins and five bones.

It's a good haul.

But a bit of a problem is arising.

The Snow Leopard's skin weighs 3, and the Snow Ape's skin weighs 2, which is quite heavy.

Especially the Snow Ape's skin, which is numerous, is taking up a lot of space in the "Item Box."

Since I've accumulated this much, I want to go to Legias' village and sell them today.

But I also want to try the train one more time.

It's only 3 PM.

I can still do it.

In a sense, it might have been a failure.

Before encountering the Snow Apes, I ran into a Black Bear.

It was unexpected.

Still, I tried the same setup with Steam Mist and Water Shield.

It didn't go well.

Well, I think I dealt a lot of damage, but it's tougher than the monkeys and leopards.

I managed to defeat it without taking damage by using my speed.

This makes me feel that there's no need to use spells to hunt Black Bears.

Winning against 15 bears easily.

It's a luxurious problem due to my mobility.

I quickly skinned and removed the paws from the bear.

But I also obtained one item that was different from before.

When I checked the items, it was like this.

[Material Item] Black Bear Paw Raw Material Quality C Rarity 2 Weight 1

Black Bear paw meat. Soft and tasty.

[Material Item] Black Bear Fur Raw Material Quality C Rarity 2 Weight 3

Black Bear fur. Thick and expected to have good insulation.

[Material Item] Black Bear Liver Raw Material Quality C Rarity 3 Weight 1

Black Bear liver. Rich in nutrients.

The liver, huh.

Is it starting to drop better items?

On the other hand, the number of heavy Black Bear furs has also increased.

I have 11 furs, 6 paws, and 2 livers.

Especially the furs are heavy!

I have two "Item Boxes," but one is already full.

This has made my decision clear.

"Return Home!"

I used the teleportation spell to jump to my master's house.

I want to go to Legias' village and clear things up.

From in front of my master's house, I used Forest Walk on the Crescent Moon and galloped through the forest.

I reached the road to Legias' village.

There, I noticed something strange.

I encountered a party of six fighting monsters.

The monsters were Black Bears.

Huh?

Looking at the wide map, this is definitely the W1 map.

I'm not mistaken.

I continued down the road toward the village.

I saw parties fighting Rampaging Silverbacks (female) and Parallel Raccoons.

Then, we encountered monsters just before Legias' village.

It was a Black Bear.

What's going on here?

I finished off the bear, skinned it, and confirmed it was definitely a Black Bear.

Why are they here when they should be in the adjacent map?

Is this part of an event?

The inside of Legias' village had changed from its usual appearance.

The guards were on high alert, opening and closing the gates, which was a new response.

The same was true inside the village.

The expressions of the NPCs walking around were serious.

Many of them looked clearly worried.

I went to Rick's stall.

It wasn't just my imagination; there were fewer customers walking around.

What happened?

"Hello, I'm back early."

"Oh, Mr. Keith, welcome."

Rick seemed to be his usual self.

But the topic inevitably turned to the monsters.

Apparently, Black Bears started appearing around Legias' village after noon.

Unlike the N1W1 map where they appeared in groups, they seem to be appearing one at a time.

There are also strange occurrences in the area around the mine camp in the N1 map.

It seems to be Snow Apes.

According to Rick, the bulletin board is being filled with reports.

"They're the monsters from the N1W1 map I was in."

"You were in the N1W1 map? How was it?"

"The monsters are forming groups, and I'm seeing monsters that aren't usually there."

"I think it's an event, but I don't have enough information to be sure."

"I think it's probably an event. How about the other maps?"

According to the bulletin board, there are also some suspicious movements.

One of them is the sea.

There was a ghost ship under a suspicious cloud.

I saw a screenshot of a battle with the ship by a pair of fishermen, as told by Rick.

A group of skeletons in sailor's uniforms.

There were also zombie-like individuals mixed in.

The ship was covered with shells and anemones, giving it a truly ghostly atmosphere.

The skeleton that seemed to be the captain was wearing a hat, and a sea snake-like creature was protruding from its eye socket.

Honestly, it's creepy.

But for some reason, it looks comical.

The fishermen's brutal treatment of the skeletons ruins the atmosphere.

Cruel.

They're impaling the skulls on the tips of their harpoons and hanging them up, fishermen!

"The production guild is focusing on production activities and waiting for confirmation of the event information."

"That's probably the safer choice."

"As a merchant, it's becoming difficult to procure goods. It's a problem."

Rick says this, but he doesn't look troubled at all.

He's as calm as ever.

But I managed to confuse even Rick.

The pile of skins and bones on the table.

Snow Ape skins and bones.

Black bear furs, paws, and livers.

A little Snow Leopard skin.

Of course, I'm not selling the Snow Leopard's claws.

I also set aside some of Lambda's prey.

"Well, with this amount, the prices might drop."

I thought I might be underpriced, but it wasn't that bad.

Especially the bones are popular, and the furs that can be made into armor are rare.

The paws and livers that can be used as ingredients will go directly to Yuka, who has been cooking at the stall.

"Should I change the evening menu?"

I think it was a good deal for both of us.

I had Rick settle the amount for Lambda's prey separately.

The amount was the highest so far.

My cash on hand increased dramatically, which makes me a bit anxious.

Is there a bank somewhere?

After leaving Rick and Yuka, I left Legias' village and tried the Call Monster spell.

I wanted to check what kind of monsters were around.

There are definitely Black Bears.

They seem to be acting individually, not in groups.

There are fewer of them than Parallel Raccoons.

I called a single Black Bear and finished it off.

It was around 5 PM.

It was an awkward time.

There wasn't enough time to go to another map.

There's no choice.

I'll finish at a nearby hunting ground.

I'll hunt in the forest labyrinth and add a new summoned monster.

I moved to a square in the forest labyrinth where monsters don't immediately appear.

I should be on guard in case I encounter any monsters.

I also had an early meal.

Here, I completely changed the lineup of my summoned monsters.

I returned Volk, Crescent Moon, Helix, and Obsidian.

I summoned Jerico, Jean, and Bunkaku.

I intended to summon a new monster as the 11th companion.

Well.

Which one should I choose?

This moment is fun.

If I list the monsters that can be summoned but haven't been summoned yet, it looks like this:

Red Fox

Tiger

Viper

Skeleton

Mist

I could just choose from the top.

But I think it's also fine to choose the monsters that catch my attention.

So, I chose one.

Mumei Skeleton Lv1 (New!)

Dexterity: 14

Agility: 14

Intelligence: 11

Strength: 10

Vitality: 10

Mental Strength: 11

Skills:

[ ] [ ] Receive Physical Resistance [Slight] Self-Repair [Moderate] Dark Attribute

I had two empty skill slots to choose from.

Well, what should I do?

The standard choice would be a sword, but I'll go with a hammer.

The other empty slot will be a small shield.

Mumei Skeleton Lv1 (New!)

Dexterity: 14

Agility: 14

Intelligence: 11

Strength: 10

Vitality: 10

Mental Strength: 11

Skills:

Hammer Small Shield Receive Physical Resistance [Slight] Self-Repair [Moderate] Dark Attribute

Yeah.

The new companion is a skeleton with a creepy atmosphere.

The stats are low overall, but not as low as a slime.

Self-Repair [Moderate]?

It's probably the higher-level skill of the Self-Repair [Slight] that Jerico has.

It also has resistance to physical attacks.

I'll give it an Angry Pickaxe as a weapon.

I'll let it use the shield that Kigai usually uses.

Yeah.

It looks the part, but it's still a monster.

The marker above its head is green, so it shouldn't be mistaken for an enemy by other players.

Well, we'll see how it goes when we use it.

I switched the vision from Flash Light to Noctovision.

Well, let's see how it goes.

Protagonist Keith

Race: Human Male Race Lv11

Occupation: Summoner (Summoner) Lv10

Bonus Points Remaining: 10

Set Skills:

Staff Lv9 (↑1) Strike Lv6 Kick Lv6 Joint Lock Lv5 Throw Lv5

Dodge Lv6 Receive Lv6 Summoning Magic Lv11 Time-Space Magic Lv4

Light Magic Lv5 Wind Magic Lv6 Earth Magic Lv6 Water Magic Lv6

Fire Magic Lv5 Dark Magic Lv5 Ice Magic Lv4